Theresa May hints at financial concessions after ‘line by line’ budget analysis

The British government is examining the U.K.’s financial commitments to the EU “line by line,” Prime Minister Theresa May told journalists before leaving the European Council summit in Brussels.

EU leaders at the event said repeatedly that they require more clarity from the U.K. on divorce issues — especially Britain’s financial settlement — before allowing Brexit talks to move on to trade.

And in remarks that hint May has not closed the door on making more financial concessions, she said: “There has to be detailed work on those commitments … We’ll continue to go through them line by line.”

She reiterated the promise she made in her speech last month in Florence. “Nobody needs to be concerned with the current budget plan, that they will have to either pay more or receive less as a result of the U.K. leaving,” she said, adding,”We will honor other commitments that we have made during our membership.”

The prime minister also emphasized that the U.K. will remain fully engaged in EU policymaking for “another year and a half,” pointing out that London is “unconditionally committed to the security and defense of Europe.” She also reiterated the U.K.’s “firm commitment” to the Iran deal.

May said that “whatever happens, we want EU citizens and their families to stay [after Brexit].”

Related stories on these topics:

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The prime minister also emphasized that the U.K. will remain fully engaged in EU policy-making for “another year and a half,”

This should go down well 😀

Posted on 10/20/17 | 2:50 PM CET

Lets Go Now

Just walk away from these EU clowns Mrs May . Give the what they deserve . Zilch they have sponged off the UK since they conned us by changing the Common Market into the the Federal Muppet show it is now .. WTO will be ok

Posted on 10/20/17 | 3:17 PM CET

Gordon

todays results and bottom of the league May has hit back,
May 1 Eu 0

Posted on 10/20/17 | 4:21 PM CET

Just Once

@Gordon

How did you derive to that score? The article says exactly the opposite. Do you apply the same logic to the UK exit commitments?

Posted on 10/20/17 | 4:31 PM CET

alan

Concessions? Perhaps the ‘line by line’ process might be eliminating some items & looking at what is strictly within the rules

Posted on 10/20/17 | 4:31 PM CET

Banana rEUpublic

For every commitment there will be a treaty basis, and where the treaty says ex members are liable we shall pay. Where it says it must be paid by member nations it gets struck out. Simples

Posted on 10/20/17 | 4:44 PM CET

S.Alexander

@alan

But general consensus is that the “line-by-line” amounts to some 60bln while May proposed 20bln – so yes, concessions.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 5:30 PM CET

Europeann

Theresqa May “ hints at financial concessions.“ Hinting is not the same as making firm committments in writing. She continues to bluff! She will bluff up to the last minute of Brexit´s deadline.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 5:31 PM CET

sgu66

@Europeann

How come I have never heard the same criticism when Merkel uses the same approach? Or is it OK for a European politician, but not from a UK one?

Posted on 10/20/17 | 5:38 PM CET

Vishnou

Sick and tired. UK wants to leave: let it do so, quickly. The EU needs to focus on other important issues.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 5:57 PM CET

Phillipe

@sgu66

Oh yeah of course, it’s totally OK for EVERYONE else to do it. You should know what these petty pr|cks are like by now. 🙂

Posted on 10/20/17 | 6:03 PM CET

kermelen

“The British government is examining the U.K.’s financial commitments to the EU “line by line,” Prime Minister Theresa May told journalists before leaving the European Council summit in Brussels.”

How strange to have leaked a £20 million figure only a few days ago if UK’s liabilities to the EU budget were not fully summarized already. Clearly, the UK was not ready for next negotiation stage if it is still examining them line by line.

How wise consequently to have the second stage reported for another call during next EU Council summit in December. Let’s only hope Mrs May will be ready then.

The lesson of this intense episode is that public relations never replace the serious work that remains to be done to solve the numerous problems brought by Brexit.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 6:03 PM CET

Phillipe

S.Alexander
“But general consensus is that the “line-by-line” amounts to some 60bln while May proposed 20bln – so yes, concessions.”

Always disappointing to see how much stubborn ignorance we get from the Brexiteers among those commenting here! Has it ever occurred to you, Brexiteer, that your own country is deeply torn…52% to 48% in the Brexit election, followed by a loss of Tories this summer when hard Brexit was the selling point…Labor and Liberal Dems against May’s course, and Tories not unified…whereas almost all European countries have 90+% majorities who want their leaders to do exactly what they did during this summit?

Does this matter – or is the earth still flat?

As Merkel said today, the second part of the negotiations will be much harder. Part #1 is “only” about money – and look how contentious that got. Part #2 will clash because then Brexiteers will have to confront the other fallacy of their fantasy world outcome: EU27 is not interested in giving anyone equal trade access without substantial commitments on many fronts, including free movement of people = the very reason you wanted a Brexit in the first place!
You cannot reconcile this central paradox, which is why I am fairly certain -sadly- that a hard Brexit is likely under Tory leadership.
EU27 leaders say behind closed doors -rightly so, in my view- that a UK government that is politically unable to face the unpleasant truth of 60b in financial commitments will most certainly be unable to sell to their voters the hard truths that will come down during phase #2…trade: You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. Either Switzerland or Norway – but nothing more favorable than that.

It is so obvious that this is the only possible outcome of a “soft” Brexit – and yet Brexiteers continue to dream.

I -and I am sure many European leaders- see only two possible outcomes: A hard Brexit under May/Johnson, or a negotiated soft Brexit under Corbyn…after this government falls apart.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 6:24 PM CET

tony

S.Alexander

You said

“But general consensus is that the “line-by-line” amounts to some 60bln while May proposed 20bln – so yes, concessions.”

Can you quote the official EU bodies who have come up with a carefully calculated figure related to the relevant obligation and agreed this ‘general consensus?’ Thanks.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 6:30 PM CET

Ronald Grünebaum

May will discover that every item in the EU 7 year budget 2014-2020 has a British share. Someone should have told her before she makes daft statements.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 6:55 PM CET

Dougie

Helghart

Doesn’t matter a t0ss. We’ve been ‘deeply torn’ over the EU for near on 45 years. So what?

Posted on 10/20/17 | 7:05 PM CET

alan

@S.Alexander/Ronald.G

I don’t have a sense that there is in fact any ‘general consensus’ and that there is a difference between ‘budget’ as in a political planning or aspiration-generation exercise with numbers attached and legal obligations within the rules

If you take off your partisan glasses for once and actually read this, then you will find that the fundamental position of the EU is far more coherent than the one publicly proclaimed by May. Take the example of “commitments past the Brexit date”, mentioned in the report on the first 2 pages: It is a basic concept of fairness that an exiting club member pays the entire share for the period the member originally agreed to pay for. That is 2014-2020 – and not 2019. As May has said before (but never put concrete numbers on the table): No EU27 member should be forced to pay more because of the UK’s exit.
Example “pensions”: Just as with alimony, your commitment to EU pensions does not end on the day of the divorce. You have “pay it forward” issues described here, as well as real people with real pensions that are unfunded: All of that has to be paid beyond 2019…just as a parent has to continue to pay alimony after he/she leaves house and kids.

EU27 leadership would be more than happy if they received a concrete commitment to all these principles. Nobody cares about a specific $ number. But for political reasons May and Davis cannot even get to that first and low hurdle…

Posted on 10/20/17 | 7:09 PM CET

Mladen

Frenchman knows better than any other his neighbors’ mentality to bluff !!
Emmanuel Macron has accused Brexiters of seeking to “bluff” the EU into softening its negotiating stance by championing a no-deal scenario, in a dramatic intervention at a summit of European leaders.
The French president said such an outcome was “in no case” part of the discussions, in an apparent reference to reports that the Brexit secretary, David Davis, was planning to positively present a plan to the UK cabinet for Britain to strike out of the EU without a deal.
“There is one negotiator on the British side under the political authority of Theresa May,” Macron said. “At no moment has Theresa May ever raised a ‘no deal’ as an option.
“If there are noises, bluff, false information by secondary actors or spectators to this discussion, that is … just life in these matters, or in the media. But in no case is it part of the discussions.”
Macron, ripped up the script during a bullish press conference, which saw him insist that there was no question of the EU softening its demands to help May avoid political problems at home.
The French president became the first leader to put a big number on the divorce bill when he dismissed May’s offer in her recent speech in Florence of €20bn, saying that amount is not even half of what is owed. “It’s not about making concessions,” Macron said. “I would say we are far from having reached the necessary financial commitments before we can open phase two [of the talks]. We are not halfway there.”
Brussels has now settled on €60bn as the expected landing zone for any deal, less than some estimates but considerably more than many members of the British cabinet are likely to stomach.
Macron said the costs of Brexit were unavoidable and the UK would need to make a “substantial effort” to break the deadlock over the talks.
May was in political trouble at home, the French president suggested, due to the failure of those who had championed leaving the EU to spell out the dangers. “The problem for Mrs May is that those who pleaded in favour of Brexit never explained to the British people what the consequences would be,” he said.

Alan, I have no idea what the “legal rules” are if EU27 and the UK wanted to push it to that. But you are missing the point here: There are consensus positions -outlined in the report I just linked to- which both sides need to agree to IF they want to have a meaningful future trade relationship.
This is precisely what nobody on the continent understands with regard to May: If you want a hard Brexit and WTO rules and splendid isolation – fine! Pursue the legal route. But if you want a close future relationship and in particular trade as closely mimicking the “before” as possible, then you need to do better.

Sounds like a parent who refuses to pay any child support but still wants full access to the kids and a good relationship with the ex spouse…

Posted on 10/20/17 | 7:27 PM CET

alan

Helge

The EU is a ‘rules based’ organisation – or at least that was the reason given for the unacceptable offer to David Cameron – no cherry picking is/was the EU mantra.

Legal obligations are understandable, anything else is a matter of political debate & discussion & if the EU wants something more than legal obligations then it is going to have to negotiate

In your own terms the EU currently sounds like a parent who wants child support and more but still refuses to discuss access to the kids and a future relationship with the ex despite the pre-nup in Article 50..

To be fair though the divorce analogy is inappropriate…. more like a club & when I resign from a club I have no liabilities beyond membership fees to the date of departure nor do I have any claim on the assets

In a divorce both assets & liabilities are on the table..

Posted on 10/20/17 | 8:39 PM CET

Dee

By the logic of this article Merkel hints at comprehensive FTA with U.K., then we have Tusk hints at talks progress much better than media reports. How about EU hints at comprehensive FTA talks to start in December.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 10:24 PM CET

S.Alexander

@Tony

I have come to realisation today that UK might not even have to pay 1 penny for the bill. You want to know why? Because UK would not have to. I was looking in the wrong place: press, comments when I should have been looking another way. Do you know that saying: put your money where your mouth is? Well, your money are not put there. Not sure how the budget will come out but I’m pretty sure there will be no contingency budget for a no-deal WTO scenario – which should start allocating money as soon as Jan 2018 because of airlines and financial sector. Having said that I expect Brexit to be in name only. They are not that idiotic as to not plan for contingency if they are indeed set to go. Sorry.

Posted on 10/20/17 | 10:28 PM CET

Thalia

Way too little way too late.
The EU has NOTHING to offer the UK except more blackmail, scams and outright theft of taxpayer’s money.

Posted on 10/21/17 | 12:08 AM CET

Defenestrater

@Thalia
Too little too late? The UK just basically offered to increase their contribution and you act like it’s the EU running back? Delusions

Posted on 10/21/17 | 12:28 AM CET

tpk

@there is no invoice fans
What is she analyzing line by line?

Posted on 10/21/17 | 8:35 AM CET

Get over yourselves EU

The EU needs more money to pay for Juncker’s early morning cognac!

Posted on 10/21/17 | 2:47 PM CET

John Brown

The eye-wateringly large exit fee sums proposed by the EU and UK EU supporters for future “commitments” made by the UK whilst a member of the EU are so large as to be either false or else proving that the real cost to the UK of EU membership is far in excess of the quoted £10bn/year net figure.

Unless of course the exit fee is not payable “NOW” as demanded by Mr. Juncker recently but is spread over the coming decades.

Posted on 10/21/17 | 3:50 PM CET

S.Alexander

@John Brown

Therein lies the exact cause for the deadlock. UK thinks it’s a ‘tax’ to be paid in order to have a new trade deal with the EU while EU says it is a total amount of current UK assumed obligations (which give benefits). EU insists on clearing previously commited obligations, no timeline discussed here – and obviously grants the benefits that come with them. While UK thinks it has no more commitments since it voted Brexit and this sum is some sort of extortion for the right to talk future business.

Posted on 10/21/17 | 10:13 PM CET

bluebell

@JohnBrown
“The eye-wateringly large exit fee sums proposed by the EU and UK EU supporters for future “commitments” made by the UK whilst a member of the EU are so large as to be either false or else proving that the real cost to the UK of EU membership is far in excess of the quoted £10bn/year net figure.

Unless of course the exit fee is not payable “NOW” as demanded by Mr. Juncker recently but is spread over the coming decades.”

The EU wants money for the MFF which runs till 2020. There is also a black hole for pensions and the RAL needs shoring up. The EU is asking the UK to pay for goodwill.

Posted on 10/21/17 | 10:26 PM CET

bluebell

@Ronald Grünebaum
“May will discover that every item in the EU 7 year budget 2014-2020 has a British share. Someone should have told her before she makes daft statements”

Give me your contact details Ron and I will pass them on to her. I am certain she will give your expert opinion priority over the top legal advice available in the UK including professional law firms (one of which I happen to know has in the past advised foreign governments – large ones).

Posted on 10/21/17 | 10:38 PM CET

bluebell

@Vishnou
Take a Tisane – maybe cherry blossom – and lie down in a darkened room you are sure to feel better by tomorrow. If the cherry doesn’t work I will send you a raspberry.

Posted on 10/22/17 | 12:33 AM CET

Lenni

Helge Hartung
“Sounds like a parent who refuses to pay any child support but still wants full access to the kids and a good relationship with the ex spouse…”

Nope, you sound like one of those people that wants to keep the kids, keep the house, retain the standard of living they enjoyed as a partnership and have the other partner pay for it all whilst denying them access to the kids, their share of the marital assets and any relationship with the children they have born together.

Posted on 10/22/17 | 3:41 PM CET

Jack Boot

@Bob

I think you have very valid point Bob. Germany, UK, then France where the major contributors but political influence in the EU did not reflect this. France has always managed to steal more influence than the UK despite its contributions being less, as it sided more often with the Germanic point of view. The UK has nether the less, (apart from being the second highest contributor to the EU (and to Frances CAP)) been a major ‘balancing’ force in the EU. When the UK leaves the EU, the balance of power shifts considerably towards just one country without an effective counter-balance.